For some years now, the world has witnessed the rise of a new activism by critical citizens all over the globe in which political protest often takes the form of spontaneous, noninstitutional, mass action. These mass protests, frequently empowered by networked communication, can succeed in interrupting established systems of power – at least for a short moment in history.
The increasing use of artistic expressions by these movements culminates in a kind of “performative democracy” or “artivism” – the combination of activism and art – which is perhaps the twenty-first century’s first new art form. Contributions by leading thinkers, activists, and artists address the many facets of this new social phenomenon and are framed by images of art objects, actions, and documents.